Method for interactive television using foveal properties of the eyes of individual and grouped users and for protecting video information against the unauthorized access, dissemination and use thereof

ABSTRACT

A method of interactive television providing for generating, transforming or displaying video information taking into account individual peculiarities of the user&#39;s eye and individual peculiarities of a group of viewer&#39;s eyes. The method provides simultaneously all or, at least, two operations from the above operations of formation, conversion and transmission of video signal and display of video information perceptible on the screen of information display facilities for one and/or a group of users or an unrestricted group of users. This is accomplished by one or a combination of various video editing and transmission adjustment techniques.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Fields of the Invention

The invention belongs to the fields of radio electronics,communications, information technology, television, interactivetelevision, industrial and medical television, videophone andvideoconferencing.

2. Art of the Invention

Interactive television features an operation sequence designed to form avideo image corresponding to expectations of the users. The interactivetelevision combines the following operations:

-   -   a) video signal preconditioning and formation,    -   b) transmission of the video signals,    -   c) conversion of the video signals,    -   d) video imaging by means of display components,    -   e) formation of interrogation signals for the data formation,        conversion and/or display components.

Eye foveal properties are used for reducing an excessive video image byway of reduction of the spatial, color resolution characteristic of thevideo image or its parts, as well as by using the resolutioncharacteristic versus the time of displaying the image to the useraccording to the function of his eye resolution.

The eye faculties are widely studied in medicine and are described asthe function of the eye resolution threshold. They are used for thediagnostics of eye and the entire body diseases. Development of sensortechnique level and identification of the eye dynamic characteristicsfor the time being in IPC A61B 3/14 class is represented by a variety ofdevices and methods for determining: coordinates and orientation of theuser's eye, their accommodation, eye apple diameter and eye winkingfactor (invention of the USSR No. 145303, 1960, the U.S. Pat. Nos.3,507,988, 1970, 4,397,531, 4,720,189, 4,729,652, 4,946,271, 4,973,149,5,430,505, 5,583,795, 5,649,061), which are used for a while only inaviation and in the military technology.

Eye dynamic characteristics comprise coordinates and directions of eyeoptic axes, accommodation, convergence, eye apple diameter and othercharacteristics. The eye static characteristics comprise long-timecharacteristics associated with eye individual features(shortsightedness, astigmatism, daltonism, etc.) and affecting thefunction of the eye spatial, time and color resolution threshold versusthe azimuth and elevation angles with respect to the eye optic axes.

Analogues describe proposals for using spatial resolution dependences ofthe azimuth and elevation angles of video image area relative to the eyeoptical axis in the facilities of the formation, conversion andtransmission of video signals, as well as in the information displayfacilities.

Thus, patent of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,725 “High-resolution visionsystem” proposes the facility, which consists of the facilities of videosignal formation presented as sensitive-to-image sensors (TV cameras)and information display facility presented as a display mounted on theuser's head. This facility uses eye faculty, which reduces spatialresolution of the video image formed on the screen of the users' videodisplay facility from the line of vision to the sight periphery. Thisfunction is realized by the facilities of video signal formationconsisting of two TV cameras with a wide and a narrow fields of vision.Video signals of high and low spatial resolution are formed in a TVcamera with a double concentric field of vision. Video signals aretransmitted via data channels to the video display facility providedwith two cathode-ray tubes, which jointly with the optical systemgenerate the video image: wide—with low resolution and narrowimages—with high resolution. An optical servo-operated mechanismcoalesces these two images and dynamically co-locates the image centerof high resolution with the optical axis of the user's eye. The opticalservo-operated mechanism contains an optical sensor, using fordetermining the dynamic sense of the user's eye optical axis andgenerating control signals coding the sense of the eye optical axis. Theabove signals are fed via the data channel to the TV cameras, whichaccording to the interrogation signal modify the orientation of theoptical axis of the TV camera of high resolution. In such a way, theuser's eye always looks at image of high resolution in the displayscreen. The device allows using a binocular mode. It also allows using acomputer inputs connected to the display or from, sensors or usingvideotape. This solution permits to process the image presented for oneuser.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,186 “Pilot helmet mounted CIG display with eyecoupled area of interest” is interesting by the fact, that it measuresthe user's head and eye position using head-mounted facilities offormation of high resolution video image, makes a projection of thesector of high resolution video image to cockpit canopy and reflects itsmotion. The proposed facility fits only for individual usage, because itoperates determining one eye area of interest. In the simulator,proposed by the American authors, it is offered to form video imagesectors as a series of concentric rings of different ranking such as topresent more in detail sectors of central rings, than periphery rings,i.e. with radial reduction of the spatial resolution.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,784 “Momentary visual image apparatus” furtherdevelops the ideas of U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,186. The above technicalsolution differs in that the coordinates of the line of eye vision areused for the dynamic determination of the foveal field size of the eyehigh resolution, with the creation and shift of this area of video imagesectors with high quality level on the screen, which occurs faster thansaccadic eye movements. It is also proposed to synchronize facilities ofimage display of low resolution with facilities of projection ofhigh-resolution image by the azimuth and elevation angles. According toone of the proposed variants it is proposed to mount the eye positionsensor on the helmet.

In this patent it is proposed to provide an electronic fusion of theimage sectors of two resolutions. The difference between the facilityand the system consists in the fact that the boundaries of the imagesectors are not subject to the dynamic adjustment, but only may beshifted from one vision point to another vision point with a high speed.The size of sectors is assigned by the projection facilities ofhigh-resolution images to place the projection of the foveal area intothe image of high resolution, whereas the facilities of low resolutiongenerate the image, which surrounds the above image of high resolution.

The distinctive feature of the above invention consists in theavailability of only two sectors with different resolution. At that, theboundaries of the sectors do not modify the form, and every sectorfeatures permanent resolution.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,384 “Head and/or eye tracked optically blendeddisplay system” describes the design of the display generating an imagewith the resolution corresponding to the spatial position of foveal areaof the observer's eye.

The above system and the U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,589 “Optical system for ahead-mounted display combining high and low resolution images” has onlytwo areas. The boundaries of these areas are constant respectively, thefield of its application is very narrow—flight simulators withdome-shaped screens.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,589 and other similar devices helmet-mountedinformation display facilities, where the image is formed for each eyeseparately. The sectors of low- and high-resolution images are combinedin a device by using a single a facility. The above device is providedwith two displays: with high and low resolution, accordingly, and theoptical system, generating the single image consisting of the sectorswith different resolution and permanent boundary between them. Theproposed boundary should correspond to the projection boundary of thefoveal field of the eye retina to the screen.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,044 “Area of interest display system with imagecombining using error dithering” developing U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,266provides a two-display system of low and high resolution, as well as thefacilities of their combination, in particular, the methods of combiningtwo images. In this connection, it is proposed to take into account thecurrent position of the user's eyes.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,317 “Retinally stabilized differential resolutiontelevision display” proposes to use eye foveal faculty in the TV-displaycreating two zones in the screen: with high and low resolution in imagesector raster scanning. The facility is furnished with a special videocamera generating two sectors of high and low-resolution image withtheir mutual positioning depending on the eye position. In thisconnection, the best ray of the cathode-ray tube determines the highresolution capacity and vice versa, the worst ray of the cathode-raytube determines the lowest resolution.

The disadvantage of this method consists in the impossibility of its usefor long distances and/or for several users simultaneously.

Eye foveal faculty is also used for the reduction of the bandwidth ofthe video information channel, for example in the U.S. Pat. No.4,405,943 “Low bandwidth closed loop imagery control and communicationsystem for remotely piloted vehicle”. The system is designed for thereduction of the bandwidth in the “closed video line” and thecommunication system for the control of a remotely flight vehicle.

The devices consists of two parts:

-   -   a remote part comprising a digital camera, video memory,        receiver and video memory reader with different resolution; and    -   a local part comprising facilities for interrogation signal        generation and facility of the above data transmission to the        unpiloted flight vehicle.

All these facilities and methods are characterized by the individualnature of their use in aircraft simulators, systems of industrial ormilitary purpose. Absolute majority of the considered technical conceptsare designed for the service of one eye of the user, in rare cases—twoeyes of one user. Anyway, the application a priori presumes, that thedistance from the source of video information to the user will beminimized. It is restricted by the period of the data signaltransmission via the data channels from the user to the source of videoinformation and vice versa. It should be smaller than the period of theeye optical axis shift from one pixel to the other pixel of the videoframe perceived by the user. Otherwise, video image defects will beobserved at the boundary of the video image sectors at the turn of theuser's eye optical axis. An on-line communication line should beorganized for the transmission of interrogation signals coming from theinformation display facility to the source of video information.

To prevent the degradation of visual perception of video image becauseof spotting the boundary effects with the user's eye, some patents,e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,209 “Variable resolution nonlinear projectionsystem” proposes to abandon distinct boundaries of video image, andinstead of this to create the image with gradually variable pixels, thesize of each of which corresponds to the dependence function of the eyeresolution. In case of the fast eye movement any defects at the boundarybetween sectors of different quality level of the image will be smearedon a wide surface and will not be perceived with the user's eye oreasily removed.

For using eye foveal faculties of a group of users, U.S. Pat. No.4,859,050 1989 described the “Method and system for formation of avisual presentation and looking viewers”. According to this method avideo film is shot in advance and is recorded on high-quality equipmentfor its further presentation on the TV-screen. There is a man in frontof the screen, who watches the performance. A sensor controls the maneyes which determine the coordinates of the eye optical axis crossingwith the screen. A computer converts the sensor data, calculates theobjects presented on the screen at the given instance, which the viewerwatches, and presents the image of these objects of the screen lookingat by the viewer on the graphics. Further using the second graphicsvideo cameras and optical device add signals of the original performanceand graphics. The output signal from the video camera is recorded to asecond tape of the second video recorder of standard quality.Insignificant elements of the image in the expert opinion are removedfrom the second tape. The above method allows using averaged groupedfoveal eye faculties. However, it insufficiently reflects individualfaculties of an individual user. The proposed method has a feature,which makes it unfitted for interactive television, i.e. the absence ofdynamism.

Russian Federation patent No. 2134053 “Method of video informationpresentation and facility for its performance” describes formation ofsignals coding boundaries of the image sectors and quality level withineach sector based on the coordinate data and user's eye orientation, thesignals are supplied to the information display facility in informationformation facility with conversion of the initial video signal andmanagement of video image such, that the ecological restrictions on thecreation of video image are being reduced. This invention takes intoaccount eye foveal faculties and forms video image in the informationdisplay facility. This invention allows using eye foveal faculties of anindividual user and a group of users gathered in front of one screen ofthe information display facility.

The above methods and devices do not allow generating, transforming ordisplaying video information taking into account individualpeculiarities of the user's eye and individual peculiarities of a groupof users' eyes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Unlike known to the authors' technical concepts, which solve separatetasks at stages of formation, transmission, conversion of the videosignal and display of video information taking into account individualpeculiarities of the user's eyes or individual peculiarities of a groupof users' eyes, the proposed method provides simultaneously all or, atleast, two operations from the above operations of formation, conversionand transmission of video signal and display of video informationperceptible on the screen of information display facilities for oneand/or a group of users or an unrestricted group of users.

The method of interactive foveal television for individual and groupeduse is intended to obtain the following technical result for a user anda group of users:

-   -   1) reduction of consumed computing power of video components        facilities;    -   2) reduction of the required traffic of the data channel for the        video signal transmission;    -   3) reduction of total computing power of video signal converting        facilities and number of operations of video signal conversion;    -   4) reduction of the quantity of data channels for the        interrogation signal transmission;    -   5) reduction of the required traffic of data transfer channel        for the interrogation signal transmission;    -   6) reduction of the required quantity of sensors for eye        faculties measurement;    -   7) compatibility of “new” TV standards and “existing” data        transfer channels of video information transmission and TV        standards;    -   8) possibility to work at long distance from the source of video        information to the display components;    -   9) increase of ratio of useful video information volume to the        total volume of video information;    -   10) reduction of the excessive volume of video information        during its formation, conversion, transmission and display for a        user or a group of users;    -   11) amelioration of subjective estimation of video image quality        by the user;    -   12) reduction of the negative factor impact to the users' health        at the video information perception;    -   13) protection of video information against non-authorized        access, distribution and use;    -   14) reduced requirements for the power (channel maximum traffic)        of channels of video information transmission and computing        power of conversion components;    -   15) provision of individual and grouped users with video        information with minimal requirements for information display        components.

The above technical result is achieved by providing an inventive method(4M) of interactive television using eye foveal properties of anindividual user or/and a group of users, a preferred embodiment(illustrated in FIGS. 1, 5, 6) of which method comprises the followingsteps:

a video signal formation facility (herein also called ‘component’),denoted as a formation component, forms a video signal of an entireframe of a video image (A) and/or forms video signals of

sectors of the video image with substantially equal quality levels andpredetermined boundaries, or

a video image of an entire frame with different quality levels;

the video signals of the entire frame of the video image are convertedat least one time in at least one video signal conversion component (C0)into a series of video signals of video image sectors and/or the levelof quality of the video image sectors is converted at least one time(C2), and/or the boundaries of the video image sectors (C1-2) arechanged;

the video signals are transmitted via data channels, to at least oneconversion component and to at least one display component (B1);

the display component forms a video image (D) that is perceived by atleast one user (E);

eye characteristics of the user are determined by employing at least onesensor in operative communication with one eye of the user, thecharacteristics are defined relatively to the video image formed by thedisplay component and perceived by an eye of the user, and by employingdata from the sensor to dynamically establish coding characteristics ofsignals (N/N1);

the signals are transmitted to at least one computing component (O1);

the computing component generates interrogation signals (K), taking intoaccount an eye resolution (L), communicated in the codingcharacteristics (N); the interrogation signals include

a first category signals, containing information on the boundaries of atleast one sector of the video image (K1), and/or

a second category signals, containing information on the quality levelsof at least one sector of the video image (K2),

generating a plurality of interrogation signals for at least for oneuser (K1-1, K2-1) and/or for one group of users (K2-1, K2-2);

the interrogation signals are transmitted, to at least components of thefollowing types: the formation component (O2-1), the conversioncomponent (O2-2) and the display component (O2-3), wherein

the interrogation signals are taken into account with a respectiveconcurrent adjustment in forming the video signals (A1-1/A2-1),converting the video signals (C1-1/C2-1), and forming the video image.

In case of a group of users perceiving a video item, reduction of thenegative factor effect on the users' health at the video informationperception, protection of video information against non-authorizedaccess, distribution and use for the reduction of the excessive volumeof video information by way of use of data on individual peculiaritiesof the users' eyes, as well as for the amelioration of subjectiveestimation of video image quality by the user and increase of the ratioof the volume of useful video information to the total volume of videoinformation at the formation of interrogation signals, we proposeanother method (2M), being a modification of the above indicated (4M),

wherein the computing component (O1) generates the interrogation signals(K) for a group of users, which group of users may contain a number ofsmaller sub-groups. The method further comprises: summarizing theinterrogation signals (K2-1, K2-2) for the users of the group, and/orthe sub-groups of users.

For the same purpose, as given in the method (2M), but for use of theinterrogation signals coding boundaries of video image sectors, wepropose an independent method (3M), which differs from the method (2M)by the fact that the interrogation signals coding external boundaries ofvideo image sectors (A2) of the similar quality level are summarized foreach level of the video image quality coded in a series of interrogationsignals (K2-1, K2-2) for a group of users; in this connection, for eachinterrogation signal, the external boundary of the video image sector ofeach quality level comprises external boundaries of all video imagesectors with an indicated quality level. The method (3M) can bedescribed as a method of interactive television wherein video signals isgenerated based on real time user perception of video images comprisingof the steps of:

forming a predetermined number of video signals of an entire frame of aninitial video image with different predetermined quality levels,including a lowest quality level and a number of higher quality levels,in a video signal formation component; said initial video image ischaracterized by predetermined boundaries, said boundaries includeexternal boundaries (A1):

transmitting the video signal provided for the lowest quality level ofthe entire video image from the video signal formation component viaconventional signal channels of a conventional video broadcasting systemdirectly to a plurality of display components, said plurality of displaycomponents including a number of user display components (B):

transmitting said video signals of the higher quality levels from thevideo signal formation component via data channels, via a plurality ofintermediate conversion components, to said user display components;said intermediate conversion components are substantially connected tosaid user display components (B1);

changing said boundaries of said video signals of the higher qualitylevels in the intermediate conversion component; said changing resultsin formation of a number of areas of each said video signal, wherein theboundaries of at least one of said areas are narrowed (C1)

forming the entire frame video image on a user display component, chosenfrom said plurality of user display components, said user displaycomponent is connected to a group-user. intermediate conversioncomponent chosen from said plurality of intermediate conversioncomponents; wherein said forming is based on the video signal of theentire frame video image of said lowest quality level, and on the videosignals of said higher quality levels (D1)

perceiving the entire frame video image by at least one user (E);

determining eye characteristics of the user by employing at least onesensor in operative communication with one eye of the user, said eyecharacteristics are determined relatively to the entire frame videoimage formed by the display component and perceived at an eye of saiduser, and by employing data from said sensor to dynamically establishcoding characteristics (N/N1);

generating a plurality of display interrogation signals for one of saiddisplay components, said generating is provided in one of the first typecomputing components, said display interrogation signals provide codingsaid boundaries, taking into account the eye resolution and dynamicallyestablish coding characteristics of the eyes of users of thecorresponding display component, said dynamic characteristics aredetermined in relation to the video image, and taking into account thecharacteristics of said predetermined quality levels; said displayinterrogation signals containing information on the external boundariesof at least one area of the video image with predetermined quality level(K2-1);

transmitting said display interrogation signals to a plurality ofcomputing component of a second type, connected to said group-userintermediate conversion component;

transmitting said display interrogations signals immediately to saiduser display component (O2-1);

generating a plurality of group interrogation signals within a pluralityof computing components of the second type, said group interrogationsignals are generated based on the display interrogation signals of atleast one computing component connected to a corresponding computingcomponent of the second type;

calculating said external boundaries of the area video image within saidsecond type computing components, in this connection, coding saidexternal boundaries of said areas of an equal quality level for saidusers or said group of users, the external boundaries of each saidquality level include the external boundaries of all said areas with theequal quality level for the respective levels of the video imagecorresponding to said display interrogation signals (K1-2); wherein

said changing of said boundaries of said video signals of the higherquality levels is controlled by said group interrogation signals, takeninto account with a respective concurrent adjustment in converting saidvideo signals (C1-1); and

said forming of the entire frame video image on the user displaycomponent, based on said area video signals, is controlled by saiddisplay interrogations signals (D1-1).

For the same purpose, as in the method (2M), but for use of theinterrogation signals coding quality levels of video image sectors, wepropose an independent method (4M), for interactive television whereinvideo signals is generated based on real time user perception of videoimages comprising the steps of:

forming a video signal of an entire frame of an initial video image in avideo signal formation component, said initial video image has apredetermined quality level and predetermined dimension (A);

said initial video image is divided into a plurality of sector videoimages with predetermined boundaries, said sector video images havingthe same predetermined quality level;

converting the video signal of said initial video image in a videosignal transmitter conversion component into a series of sector videosignals corresponding to said sector video images (C0);

transmitting said sector video signals from said transmitter conversioncomponent via data channels, via a plurality of intermediate conversioncomponents, to a plurality of display components including a userdisplay component, said intermediate conversion components aresubstantially connected to said display components (B1);

converting said quality levels of said sector video signals, such that acorresponding quality level of at least one said sector video image issuccessively reduced, said conversion is provided in said intermediateconversion component (C2);

forming an entire frame video image on the user display component, saiduser display component is connected to a group-user intermediateconversion component chosen from said plurality of intermediateconversion components, said forming is based on said sector videosignals, said entire frame video image being perceived by at least oneuser (E), said sector video images having the same predeterminedboundaries and dynamically changeable quality levels (D2);

determining eye characteristics of a user by employing at least onesensor in operative communication with eyes of the user, saidcharacteristics are defined relatively to the entire frame video imageformed by the display component and perceived at an eye of said user,and by employing data from said sensor to dynamically establish codingcharacteristics (N/N1);

generating display interrogation signals within a plurality of computingcomponents of a first type, each of said first type computing componentsis connected to a predetermined display component chosen from said userdisplay components, taking into account an eye resolution of acorresponding user, and said coding characteristics; said displayinterrogation signals containing information on the quality levels of atleast one sector video images (K2-1);

transmitting said display interrogations signals to one of a pluralityof computing component of a second type, connected to said group-userintermediate conversion component (O2-2);

transmitting said display interrogations signals immediately to saiduser display component (O2-1);

generating a plurality of group interrogation signals within a pluralityof computing components of the second type, said group interrogationsignals are generated based on the display interrogation signals of atleast one computing component connected to a corresponding computingcomponent of the second type;

calculate said quality levels of the sector video image within saidsecond type computing component; in this connection, the quality levelof said sector video signals is set as the highest quality level forrespective sectors of the video images corresponding to said displayinterrogation signals (K2-2)

converting the quality levels of said sector video signals, such that acorresponding quality level of at least one said sector video image isreduced, said conversion is provided in said group-user intermediateconversion component (C2-2), wherein

said group interrogation signals are taken into account with arespective concurrent adjustment in converting of said video signals(C2-1); and

said forming of an entire frame video image on said user displaycomponent, based on said sector video signals, is controlled by saiddisplay interrogations signals of said correspondent user displaycomponent (D2-l).

When quality levels for video signals are standardized that to simplifyvideo signal conversion process in conversion components, to protectvideo information against non-authorized access, distribution and use,to decrease the requirements for the channel power (for the channelmaximum traffic) of video information transmission component andcomputing power of conversion components, to provide individual andgrouped users with video information with minimum requirements forinformation display components, to provide the compatibility of the“new” TV standards with the “existing” data transmission channels and TVstandards, we propose a method (5M) which differs from the method (3M)by the fact, that

the forming of video signals is provided for the different qualitylevels, and such forming further comprises:

changing the boundaries of each said area of the video image in theintermediate conversion component except for the area of the highestquality level, said boundaries including internal and externalboundaries, the internal boundaries of all the areas , except thehighest quality level area, correspond to the external boundaries of thevideo image with the next higher quality level (C1-1-1).

In case that a video signal of the initial video image is received fromthe facility of video signal formation of the same quality level, wepropose a method (6M), which differs from the method (5M) by the fact,that

the video signal of the entire video image is converted into a series ofvideo signals of the entire video-image with different quality levels(C0-1).

According to the methods (5M) and (6M) video signals of all qualitylevels, except for the lowest level, with sequential conversion andtransmission from the video signal formation component to theinformation display component, reduce their area, whereas the sector ofvideo image with the lowest quality level throughout the aboveconversion increases its area, covering in the information displaycomponent the area of video image achieving the level of 90-99%. With aview to reduce the required traffic of the information channel for thetransmission of video signals, to increase the ratio of the volume ofuseful video information to the total volume of video information, wepropose an independent method (7M) of interactive television wherein avideo signal is generated based on real time user perception of videoimages comprising the steps of:

a video signal formation facility (herein also called ‘component’),denoted as a formation component, forms a video signal of an entireframe of a video image (A) and/or

forms a video image or video signals of

sectors of the video image with substantially equal quality levels (A1),or

a video image of an entire frame with different quality levels (A2)

the video signals of an entire frame of a video image-are converted atleast one time in at least one video signal conversion component (C0)into a series of video signals of video image sectors and/or convertedat least one time the level of quality of the video image sectors (C2),and/or

boundaries of the video image sectors (C1) are changed;

the video signals are transmitted via data channels, to at least oneconversion component and to at least one display component (B1);

the display component forms a video image (D) that is perceived by atleast one user (E);

determining eye characteristics by employing at least one sensor inoperative communication with one eye of the user, said characteristicsare defined relatively to the video image formed by the displaycomponent and perceived at an eye of said user, and by employing datafrom said sensor to dynamically establish signal coding characteristics(N/N1),

transmitting said signals having said coding characteristics to at leastone computing component (O1);

generating interrogation signals with said computing component, takinginto account the eye resolution, communicated in the codingcharacteristics, said interrogation signals include a first categorycontaining information on the boundaries of at least one sector of thevideo image and/or a second category containing information on thequality levels of at least one sector of the video image (K1-1);

transmitting said interrogation signals to at least components of thefollowing types: said formation component (O2-1), said conversioncomponent (O2-2), and said display component (O2-3); wherein

the interrogation signals are taken into account with a respectiveconcurrent adjustment in forming of said video signals, converting saidvideo signals, and forming said image;

said forming video signals is provided for said different qualitylevels, and further comprises:

transmitting said video signals via data channels, at least, to one saidconversion component (B),

subjected to said first category interrogation signals, changing theboundaries of each sector of the video image in the conversion componentexcept for the sector of the highest quality level, said boundariesincluding internal and external boundaries, the internal boundaries ofall the sectors, except the highest quality level sector, correspond tothe external boundaries of the video signal with the next higher qualitylevel (C1)

the first quality level corresponds to a basic level;

said transmitting the video signal is provided for the basic level ofthe entire video image via data channels of a conventional videobroadcasting system to every said display component directly, or via theconversion component, associated with the display component; and

subjected to said interrogation signals containing at least informationon the boundaries of a sector with the lowest quality level, changingthe internal boundaries of each sector of the video image in theconversion component (C3).

In the case that levels of video signal quality of low and high qualitylevels are characterized by the fact that an element of video image(e.g., pixel) of the video signal of low quality covers the wholequality of video signal elements of high quality level, with a view toreduce the required computing power of video signal formation component,to reduce the aggregate computing power of video signal conversioncomponents and the quantity of operations, we propose a method (8M),which differs from the method (3M) by the fact that the video signal ofthe entire video image or the sectors of the video image of apredetermined low quality level formation components (A1-2 or A2-2),further comprises: calculating a value of a pixel of the video image ofsaid low quality level as the mean value of values of pixels of apredetermined high quality level of the video image, wherein pixels haspredetermined boundaries, said pixels of a predetermined high qualitylevel of the video image are restricted with the boundaries of saidpixel of the predetermined low quality level (I1).

For decreasing the requirements for the channel power (maximum traffic)of video information transmission component and for the computing powerof video signal conversion components, for simplicity of computing inthe video signals conversion component, we propose a method (9M), whichdiffers from the method (3M) by the fact, that

the forming the video signal of the entire video image or of the sectorsof the video image of a predetermined low quality level in the formationcomponent (A1-2 or A2-2) further comprises:

calculating a value of a pixel of the video image of said low qualitylevel as the value of pixel of a predetermined high quality level of thevideo image, wherein said pixel of the video image of said low qualitylevel has predetermined boundaries, said pixel of the predetermined highquality level of the video image is inboard of said pixel of thepredetermined low quality level(I2).

In case that quality levels for video signals are standardized by aseries of quality levels, comprising the lowest quality level and aseries of higher quality levels with respect to it, that to reduce thevolume of the transmitted information and to reduce the requirements forthe computing power of the conversion components, as well as to protectvideo image against non-authorized access, distribution and use, wepropose an independent method (10M) of interactive television whereinvideo signals are generated based on real time user perception of videoimages comprising the steps of:

forming a predetermined number of video signals of an entire frame of aninitial video image with different predetermined quality levels in avideo signal formation component said initial video image ischaracterized by predetermined boundaries (A6); said differentpredetermined quality levels include a number of quality levels,starting from a lowest first quality level, the number of quality levelsincludes a second quality level corresponding to a first extendedquality level, a third quality level corresponding to a second extendedquality level, and so on said forming a video signal of the firstextended quality level in the video signal formation component furthercomprises:

subtraction of the first quality level video signal from the secondquality level video signal; whereas said forming the video signal of thesecond and higher numbers extended quality levels are obtained bysubtraction from the respective quality level video signal of a videosignal with the next quality level (R);

transmitting the video signal provided for the lowest quality level viaconventional signal channels of a conventional video broadcasting systemdirectly to a plurality of display-conversional components, each saiddisplay-conversional component is connected to a corresponding said userdisplay component (B);

transmitting said video signals of the extended quality levels from thevideo signal formation component via data channels, via a plurality ofintermediate conversion components, to said display-conversionalcomponents, said intermediate conversion components are substantiallyconnected to said display-conversional components (B2);

changing said boundaries of said video signals of the extended qualitylevels in the intermediate conversion component, said changing resultsin formation of a number of areas of each said video signal wherein theboundaries of at least one of said areas are narrowed (C1);

summarizing the video signals of the lowest quality level and of all ofthe extended quality levels, thereby obtaining a summary video signal ofthe entire video image in the display-conversional component connectedto the corresponding user display component (S);

transmitting said summary video signal to a user display component,chosen from said plurality of user display components (B3)

forming the entire frame video image on the user display component, saiduser display component is connected to a display conversion componentchosen from said plurality of intermediate conversion components (D);

perceiving the entire frame video image by at least one user (E)

determining eye characteristics of the user by employing at least onesensor in operative communication with one eye of the user, said eyecharacteristics are determined relatively to the entire frame videoimage formed by the display component and perceived at an eye of saiduser, and by employing data from said sensor to dynamically establishcoding characteristics (N/N1),

generating a plurality of display interrogation signals for one of saiddisplay components, said generating is provided in one of the first typecomputing components, said display interrogation signals provide codingsaid boundaries, taking into account the eye resolution and dynamicallyestablish coding characteristics of the eyes of users of thecorresponding display component, said dynamic characteristics aredetermined in relation to the video image, and taking into account thecharacteristics of said predetermined quality levels; said displayinterrogation signals containing information on the external boundariesof at least one area of the video image with predetermined quality level(K1-1)

transmitting said display interrogation signals to one of a plurality ofcomputing component of a second type, connected to said group-userintermediate conversion component;

transmitting said display interrogations signals immediately to saiduser display-conversion component (O2-2);

generating a plurality of group interrogation signals within the secondtype computing components said group interrogation signals are generatedbased on the display interrogation signals of at least one computingcomponent connected to a corresponding computing component of the secondtype;

calculating said external boundaries of the area video image within saidsecond type computing components, in this connection, coding saidexternal boundaries of said areas of an equal quality level for saidusers or said group of users, the external boundaries of each saidquality level include the external boundaries of all said areas with thecorresponding quality level (K1-2);

wherein

said changing of said boundaries is controlled by said groupinterrogation signals taken into account with a respective concurrentadjustment in converting said video signals (C1-2)

said forming of the entire frame video image on the user displaycomponent, based on said area video signals is controlled b said displayinterrogations signals; and/or

subjected to said group interrogation signals containing at leastinformation on the boundaries of said areas of the video image of any ofsaid extended quality levels, at least one time changing the boundariesof the areas in at least one intermediate conversion component (D);

in this connection,

the video signals of the second and higher numbers quality levels areconverted in a display-conversional component connected with the userdisplay component for every video signal (S-2).

For reducing the required traffic of the data channel for transmissionof video signals, compatibility of “new” TV standards and “existing”data transmission channels of video information and TV standards, wepropose a method (11M), which differs by from the method (10M) by thefact, that the users consist of two types of users: registered users andnon-registered users; the transmitting of the video signal of the lowestquality level is provided to the corresponding user display componentsof the registered users and non-registered users (B1-2).

Should the element of video information of low quality video signal ofthe video information occur to be determined as the average value fromvideo information elements of high level quality video signals coveredby the above element of video information with low quality level (A4.C8), for the purpose of reduction of the volume of video informationtransmitted through communication channels, we propose a method (12M),which differs by the fact, that the pixel of the video signal of theextended quality level of video image in the component of video signalformation or in the component of video signal conversion is determinedby subtraction of high quality level pixel of video image (I3); thevideo signal pixel with basic quality level in the component of videosignal conversion or the component of information display video signalpixel of high quality level of the video image is formed by way ofsumming the video signal pixel of the extended quality level and thevideo signal pixel of the quality basic level (J3).

Should the element of video information (pixel) of low quality videosignal occur to be determined as one of pixels of video signals of highquality level forming a part of the video image sector restricted withboundaries of the above video signal pixel of low quality level of videoimage (A1-2 or A2-2), for the purpose of reduction of the volume ofvideo information transmitted through communication channels andreduction of volume of computations in video signal conversioncomponent, we propose any method (13M), which differs by the fact, thatthe video signal pixel of basic quality level in the components of videosignal formation or video signal conversion is determined as equal tothe video signal pixel of high quality level forming a part of videosignal pixels of high quality level of video image sector, included intovideo image sector, restricted with boundaries of the above video signalpixel of the basic quality level (A8, C11-1); the other pixels aredetermined by way of subtraction of video signal pixels with basicquality level from the pixels of high quality level (I2), video signalpixel of high quality level is determined in the components of videosignal conversion or information display as corresponding to videosignal pixel of the basic level (I4); the other video signal pixels ofhigh quality level included in the video image sector restricted withthe boundaries of the pixel of the relevant video signal of the basicquality level are formed by way of summing the relevant video signalpixels of the extended quality level and the relevant video signal pixelof the basic quality level (J4).

With a view to provide the compatibility of the “new” TV standards andthe “existing” video data transmission channels and TV standards, toreduce the effect of the negative factors to the users' health at thesimultaneous perception of video information by means of one ordifferent information display components, to sum video signals of basicand extended levels in one video image formed in the information displaycomponent, we propose a method (14M), which differs from the method (3M)wherein said user display component is represented by a conventional CRTincluding: a screen, a gun-cathode, an electronic beam deflector, a sizescreen dot unit for dynamic control of the dot on the screen; saidmethod further comprises:

successive transferring video signals of said areas with differentquality levels to the gun-cathode (B1);

synchronous transferring said display interrogation signals for saidareas each, wherein said display interrogation signals carry encodinginformation on the boundaries of said each area, said transferring thedisplay interrogation signals is provided to said electronic beamdeflector, said synchronous transferring of said display interrogationsignals is provided synchronously with the entire frame video image(O-1); and

synchronous transferring said display interrogation signals for saidareas each, wherein said display interrogation signals carry encodinginformation on the quality levels of said areas , and said transferringthe display interrogation signals is provided to said size screen dotunit, said synchronous transferring of said display interrogationsignals is provided synchronously with the entire frame video image(O-2).

With a view to provide the operation for long distances from the sourceof video information to the video display component and provision ofindividual and grouped users with video information at the minimumrequirements for the information display components, we propose a method(21M), wherein said method further comprises:

a preliminary step of recording video signals of a predetermined lowestquality level,

transmitting said video signals of a predetermined extended qualitylevel to the user display components (B), and

reading up said recorded video signals of the lowest quality levelduring the step of transmitting said video signals,

thereby reducing the information volume to be transmitted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of the inventivemethod of foveal interactive television for one individual user includedin a group consisting of two users.

FIG. 2 a. illustrates a video image with one (lowest) quality level.

FIG. 2 b. illustrates a video image consisting of sectors with differentquality levels.

FIG. 2 c. Video image consisting of sectors with different qualitylevels and boundaries, which differ with respect to the video imagesector boundaries.

FIG. 2 d. illustrates a video image consisting of sectors with differentquality levels, with boundaries comprising video image quality levelsNos 3 b and 3 c.

FIG. 3 a. illustrates a video image consisting of sectors with assignedboundaries and one maximum quality level.

FIG. 3 b. illustrates a video image consisting of sectors with assignedboundaries and with different quality levels.

FIG. 3 c. illustrates a video image consisting of sectors with assignedboundaries and with different quality levels, which differ from qualitylevels of video image sectors.

FIG. 3 d. illustrates a video image consisting of sectors with the sameboundaries that are shown in FIG. 3 a, 3 b, 3 c and with quality levelsin each sector not worse than the quality level of sector 4 b or 4 d.

FIG. 4. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision. The users are located in front of several displaycomponents.

FIG. 5. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision for several users located in front of one display components.

FIG. 6. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision, according to an embodiment with stage formation of aninterrogation signal with formation and conversion of boundaries ofvideo image areas with different quality levels.

FIG. 7. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision, according to an embodiment with stage conversion of thequality levels of video image areas.

FIG. 8. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision according to an embodiment, wherein individual interrogationsignals are transmitted to the display components and the video signalconversion component connected therewith, whereas the groupedinterrogation signal is transmitted to the formation and conversioncomponents and to a group of display components.

FIG. 9. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision according to an embodiment with stage formation ofinterrogation signals in individual computing components.

FIG. 10. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision according to an embodiment with stage formation ofinterrogation signals in individual computing components connected withof video signal conversion components.

FIG. 11. illustrates a boundaries of video image areas with qualitylevels converted several times.

FIG. 12. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactivetelevision for an embodiment with a single preliminary conversion of thequality level and sequential conversion of sector boundaries of thevideo image.

FIG. 13. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision, according to an embodiment with conversion of video signalsinto signals of high and low quality levels and with a low quality levelvideo signal transmission to the standard video display components.

FIG. 14. illustrates a block diagram of the method of interactive fovealtelevision according to an embodiment with conversion of the videosignals into video signals of basic and extended quality levels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

1. The method of 4M interactive television using eye foveal faculties ofindividual and grouped users, which protects video information againstnon-authorized access and distribution, is presented in detail on theblock-diagrams of in FIGS. 1, 5. It presents a variant of interactivetelevision for a minimal group of users, consisting of the users of twoinformation display facilities and for, at least, one individual userperceiving a video item in one information display facility. Itcomprises the following operations:

Ref. 1—A video signal of an entire frame of a video image is formed inthe video signal formation component (A). The entire frame of a videoimage corresponding to the formed video signals may consist of onesector with a permanent quality level such as in case of traditionaltelevision (A1), e.g., that one, which is conditionally shown in FIG. 2,Ref. 2, or two and more sectors with different quality levels intendedfor broadcasting to multi-screen information display facilities (A2),Refs 3, 4, 5.

Video signals may be formed with a constant-in-time quality level of thevideo image or have a time-dependent predetermined quality level of thevideo image.

The quality level of video image and an area of the entire frame of theof video image may be presented by the following characteristics orparameters:

-   -   spatial resolution of the coded video image (quantity of video        image pixels);    -   pixel colored resolution, i.e. the number of colors, which may        be formed by one pixel of the coded video image;    -   number of “gray” tones;    -   temporary resolution characterized by the frequency of frame        shift within a sector or the time of sector presentation of the        video image;    -   video image contrast;    -   used methods of scalability, such as:    -   signal/noise ratio;    -   etc.

The video signals are formed with time-constant predetermined boundariesor with time-dependent changing boundaries. In this connection, videosignals with the same quality level are formed in different areas (seealso FIG. 3 a, Ref. 6) (A1) or with different quality levels (A2) (seealso FIG. 2 b or 3 b). Three quality levels conditionally presentsectors shown in FIGS. 2 and 3: the lowest (Ref. 7), the medium (Ref. 8)and the highest quality level of video signals (Ref. 9).

The video signals are formed separately in the video components (A, A1,A2), i.e. without any control signals (A), or by interrogation signals(FIG. 1, Ref. 1), coding quality levels of video image areas, and/orvideo signals are formed with variable quality levels within the statedareas of the video image (A21), and/or video signals with variableboundaries within the stated sectors (A11) are formed by interrogationsignals coding boundaries of the video image areas. The areas may covera part of the image, or the entire frame of the video image,complementing each other or overlapping each other.

A video camera may be used as the video signal formation component,i.e., a video camera, which is capable to form intercomplementary videosignals of different quality levels, e.g., shown in FIGS. 2 a, 2 e, 2 f,2 h (Refs 2, 3, 4, 5) for video camera, which may change the orientationand/or field of vision when changing the focal depth and/or diaphragmaperture of the video camera objective taking into account theinterrogation signals coding boundaries of the areas and/or qualitylevel of the video signal in the assigned sectors. It is also possibleto use a combination of two or more video cameras with different qualitylevel, as in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,725.

Should the used source of video information occur to be a displaycomponent of the video signal, the such display component has thecapacity to read off a part of the recorded information by theinterrogation signals and to display only those that were preliminarilydistributed, while the recording areas of the utilized data medium,which correspond to different areas of the full picture frame and/ordifferent quality levels of the video signal within the boundaries ofthe above areas of the video image taking into account interrogationsignals. The video signals may be formed in computer video componentsforming double sighting information or a virtual reality similar tocomputer games.

Formation of video signals consisting of areas with different qualitylevel by the programmable method is described in Russian patent No.021498908 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,725.

The purpose of such division of the video image into areas and reductionof the quality level in individual or all areas of the video imageconsists in the reduction of the video signal data volume transmittedthrough data channels and in the reduction of the video image dataredundancy formed by means of the screen of information displaycomponent.

Ref. 10—Video signals are transmitted through data channels from thesource of video information, which is represented by video components orvideo signal conversion components, to two or more video signalconsumers represented by a signal conversion components and, at least,to one display component (B1).

Ref. 10—Video signals are transmitted through data channels from atleast one source of video signals to one consumer of video signals(B1-1).

The video signals are fully transmitted to all of the aforementionedcomponents or the video information is transmitted in a reduced volumeaccording to the interrogation signals coding area boundaries of videosignals and/or the quality level within the areas of the video image.

The video signal transmission (Refs 10) via a cellular network presumes,that the user is a network subscriber, so he (she) receives individualvideo signals or the video signals of video image sectors via anestablished communication channel. When the video signals aretransmitted from one user or a group of users through a transmitter,similar to the transmitter provided in the cellular network, all userspossessing aerial (wireless) receivers of a respective range located inthe transmitter coverage zone, constitute one group of users. Thetransmitter transmits all video information ordered by a group of userson the air; video information channels are formed according toindividual interrogation signals linked with a particular user, e.g., byway of transmission of video signal coordinates of the video imagesector or decoding keys ordered by the user of the video image sector tothe receiver. In case where the user does not form interrogationsignals, he (she) may receive the entire grouped video signal for thefurther conversion and/or display of the video signal ordered by a groupof users.

Ref. 12—Video signals with constant predetermined sector boundariesand/or with a constant quality level within these sectors or byinterrogation signals coding the video signal sector boundaries and/orquality levels of video signals of video image sectors are converted inthe video signal conversion component taking into account theinterrogation signals; the incoming video signal is accordinglyconverted into video signals with variable boundaries and/or withvariable quality levels within the stated sectors (C2).

The area of the video image sector is reduced in the video signalconversion component at least with respect to one video signal coming tothe video display components (C1), and/or the quality level is reducedwith respect to at least one video signal by way of simultaneousreduction of one or several parameters of the quality level.

The video signal conversion taking into account interrogation signals isdone in one or several stages depending on the number of users providedwith the sensors used for the determination of eye characteristics anddepending on the extent to which the structure of the users is ramified.

The video signal conversion may be conventionally divided into stages.

The first stage of conversion consists in the conversion by the suminterrogation signal at the level of a town and/or at the level of aregion and/or at the level of a residential quarter (other divisions arepossible and this is not important), i.e., on the top level of theusers' hierarchical scheme.

The further stages of video signal conversion consist in conversion bythe sum interrogation signal (received by summing of interrogationsignals of individual users and a group of users) at the level ofstreets, a building and/or a building entrance, which represents thefollowing level of the users' hierarchical scheme of the interactivetelevision.

The last conversion stage is used for the video signal conversion takinginto account individual interrogation signals coming directly fromindividual users depending on the availability of the data from theusers' sensors.

Video signals may be converted in two or more conversion components inparallel, e.g., for the users perceiving a video item on differentinformation display components (see FIGS. 2 b and 2 c) and/or in series,a video image with one quality level, shown on FIG. 2 a is convertedinto a video image, FIG. 2 d for several users, next the video image isconverted into the video image with boundaries and quality levels ofvideo image sectors for a single user (FIG. 2 b or 2 c).

When video signals are converted in video signal conversion components,the volume of video image signal information is reduced dynamically. Thedynamic reduction of video information volume in the video signalconversion components, taking into account signals coding user's eyesorientation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,943. However the abovemethod fits only for individual users.

Ref. 13—Screens of information display components are used for videoimage formation, which corresponds to incoming video signals. Areas ofthe video image corresponding to the incoming video signals haveboundaries and a quality level of video image corresponding to thecharacteristics of the incoming video signal (D). The above operation isdone using video display components without taking into accountinterrogation signals. In this connection, characteristics of user's eyemay not be measured with sensors.

Ref. 14—When the interrogation signal coding boundaries of video imagesectors, comes to the information display facility, and/or when thequality level in the above sectors differs from the boundaries of videosignals arrived to the display components, video image is generated inthe above facility with boundaries and quality levels corresponding tothe interrogation signal (D2-1). The above task may be solved using thedatainformation display facility previously proposed by the authors onthe basis of CRT, liquid crystal screens, etc., e.g., as described inRussian patent No. 2134053.

Ref. 15—One or several users perceive the video image formed on thescreen of at least one information display component (E). There may beone, two or more users viewing one video image as it is shown in FIG. 4.

The quality level of video image or its sector perceived by the user'seye may be represented by the following characteristics or parameters:

-   -   spatial resolution of a full picture frame (minimal angle        dimension of pixels perceived as separate pixels or maximum        number of pixels in a single spherical angle perceived by an        eye, as separates pixels);    -   colored resolution as per the number of colors, which may be        distinguished by an eye in a single spherical angle;    -   number of “gray” color tones;    -   time dependent resolution characterized by the frequency of        frame shift within an area perceived by an eye, such as        blinking;    -   brightness;    -   contrast of the video image;    -   etc.

Ref. 16—A known sensor or sensors are used for the dynamic determinationof the eye characteristics with respect to the video image perceived bythe user with formation of data interrogation signals coding eyecharacteristics (N) or eye characteristics of several users as it isshown in FIG. 4, Ref. 25.

The following eye characteristics may be dynamically measured by meansof the sensor or sensors: eye orientation, eye coordinates with respectto the video image and other characteristics. In this connection,coordinates of one or two eyes of the user, or several eyes or all eyesof users gathered in front of the screen are determined. There is avariant, when every user located in front of the screen is furnishedwith a sensor. Every eye may be fitted with an individual sensor, e.g.,of the helmet type.

Ref. 18—Data interrogation signals coding eye or eyes characteristics(Ref. 26) are transmitted at least to one computing component (O1), inthis connection, dynamically changed characteristics such as coordinatesand direction of the eye optical axes, and the eye accommodation depthare dynamically transmitted (O1-1), whereas slowly changedcharacteristics, such as the eye apple diameter, and the function of eyeresolution dependence with respect to the eye optical axis aretransmitted to the computing component by a periodical or initialentering into the memory of the computing component (O1-2).

The function of eye resolution dependence is determined as a function ofthe mode or the type of display information and subjective features ofthe user.

Ref. 19—Interrogation signals coding information on the boundaries of atleast one sector of the video image (K1) and/or on the quality level ofvideo image (K2), within which the requirements of the user's or theusers' eye perceiving video image are met by generating the signalscoding the user's eye dynamical characteristics taking into account thefunction of the eye resolution dependence in the computing component.

When the boundaries and quality levels of video image sectors aredetermined, the task of the minimum video data redundancy is solved byreduction of the video signal quality level down to the minimum level,when the user perceives the video image as a real image within thestated eye sectors. The quality level of video image sectors isminimized and dimensions of the video image sectors of a predeterminedhigh level are reduced at the earliest possible stages of video signalformation, conversion, transmission or datainformation display.

According to the above-mentioned prior art, only one interrogationsignal is formed, which is transmitted to the video signal formingcomponent, video signal conversion component or to the displaycomponents (patent of Russia No. 2134053). We propose to generate atleast two interrogation signals. FIG. 1, Ref. 20 shows the formation ofindividual interrogation signals for one video display components; Ref.21 represents grouped interrogation signals for two or more informationdisplay component or summed interrogation signals obtained by additionof individual and/or grouped interrogation signals.

Ref. 22—An individual interrogation signal is transmitted to theinformation display component (O2-1) and/or to the conversion component(O2-2), and/or to the formation component (O2-3).

Ref. 14—The display component shows sectors of the video image takinginto account interrogation signals with boundaries and quality levelscorresponding to the interrogation signal of the display component(D2-1).

At the same time interrogation signals of the display facilities may betransmitted to the video signal conversion component connected with theabove display components (O2-2),

Ref. 23. Boundaries and/or quality levels of the video image, Ref. 12are converted according to the interrogation signals in the conversioncomponent.

Ref. 24—The summed interrogation signal is transmitted to the videocomponent (O2-3). Video signals of video image sectors with itsboundaries and quality levels within the stated sectors corresponding tothe requirements of grouped users' eyes perceiving the video image areformed in accordance with the interrogation signal in the videocomponents.

According to these interrogation signals the video signal sequentiallyreduces the data redundancy taking into account the requirement of agroup of users gathered in front of one screen or a group of users, whosimultaneously watch the video image on many screens. The above groupmay cover a building entrance, building, a street, a town, etc. Thevideo signal sequentially reduces its redundancy down to the levelcorresponding to the eye requirement of one individual user taking intoaccount individual faculties of his/her eye and its demand with thedisplay of video image covering sectors with different quality level onthe screen of the datainformation display components.

A video signal consisting of sectors with boundaries and a quality levelcorresponding to the grouped interrogation signal is formed in theinformation display components not taking into account interrogationsignals from the the video signals received from the video componentssignal formation or conversion components. According to a prior art U.S.Pat. No. 4,028,725 a provision is made for the formation of controlsignals, i.e. signals formed taking into account the properties of amanagement object: a TV camera or a computer. In our case, interrogationsignals, which characterize the faculties of users' eyes, are generatedand transmitted.

As a result of the proposed method, one information display component ora group of information display components integrated by a common datachannel, e.g., a feeder mounted in a building entrance, receives asummed data signal with the reduced redundancy of video information.Usually the users look at the same video item, therefore there exists aprobability, that with the growth of the number of users being in frontof one video display component, the volume of video information to betransmitted will grow in a non-linear dependence or will not be changed,as it is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,050.

A video image with lowest redundancy is formed for users, whose eyecharacteristics are measured by means of sensors for whom an individualinterrogation signal is generated in the computing component, whereas agrouped video signal received taking into account summed interrogationsignals comes to the information display component without the sensors.

Simultaneous carrying out the above operations makes it possible tofulfill the assigned tasks.

All of the above characteristics are required and sufficient to solvethe assigned task and to achieve the stated technical result.

2. A block diagram of the method of interactive foveal television andformation of interrogation signals in the computing component by stageis illustrated in FIG. 6. The above method is intended for employmentdata of eye individual features while generating the interrogationsignals and to speed up the operation of generation of individualinterrogation signals in the computing component (K1, K2) in case of agroup of users perceiving a video item. This method is based on the eyefeature, according to which the eye resolution from the vision line tothe periphery goes down; consequently, the sectors of video image of alow quality level (Ref. 7) cover the sectors of high quality level (Refs8 and 9).

Method 2M differs from method 4M by the following operations:

Ref. 27 (K1-1). Individual interrogation signals encoding information ofat least about one boundary of at least one sector of the video image,which interrogation signals are generated in the computing componentbased on the signals coding eye dynamic characteristics taking intoaccount a dependence function of the user's eye resolution (K1-1). Anexample of boundaries of video image sectors for different eyes for thesame set of quality levels is depicted in FIGS. 2 b and 2 c, Refs 3 and4. The above operation is done for a group of users' eyes with requeststo be accounted in the process of operation of interactive television.

Ref. 28 (K1-2). An interrogation signal for users' groups coding theexternal boundaries of video image sectors of the same quality level(K1-2) is formed in the computing component by the stated interrogationsignals for users and users' groups designed for several eyes and tocode the boundaries of video image sectors. For this purpose theexternal boundary of the sector of video image of each quality levelcomprises external boundaries of all sectors of video image with theabove quality level. An example of the boundaries of sectors of a videoimage for a summed request is shown in FIG. 2 d.

The above method makes it possible to generate grouped interrogationsignals corresponding to the requirements of every registered userperceiving a video image.

3. A block diagram of the method of foveal interactive television withsequential conversion of quality levels of sectors of video image isgiven in FIG. 7. It comprises the following steps:

Ref. 27 (K1-1). Individual interrogation signals encoding information onat least one quality level of at least one assigned sector of videoimage (K1-1) are generated in the computing component based on thesignals encoding the eye dynamic characteristics taking into account thedependence function of user's eye resolution (L1). An example of qualitylevels of a video image conditionally assigned with a value from 1 to 3for one set of sector boundaries of the video image shown in FIG. 3 a,Ref. 6, for different eyes is shown in FIGS. 3 b and 3 c. The aboveoperation is done for a group of users' eyes, whose requests will betaken into account in the process of operation of interactive television(K1-2).

Ref. 29 (K1-2). A sum interrogation signal encoding quality level in thesectors of video image with the highest quality level in any statedsector of the video image (K1-2) is formed in the computing component asper the stated individual interrogation signals designed for severaleyes, which code quality levels of a video image in the stated sectorsof the video image. An example of quality levels for the assignedsectors of a video image for a sum interrogation signal is shown in FIG.3 d.

1. A block diagram of the method 1Mof foveal interactive television withformation of interrogation signals by stage and interrogation signaltransmission to an intermediate conversion component and/or to ainformation display component of claim 1 is shown in FIG. 8. We proposea variant, in which several information display component are used forone video component signal formation or a conversion component. Thismethod comprising the steps of:

Ref. 11—transmitting the video signal provided for the lowest qualitylevel of the entire video image from the video signal formationcomponent via conventional signal channels of a conventional videobroadcasting system directly to a plurality of display components, saidplurality of display components including a number of user displaycomponents (D).

Ref. 20 or 21—Individual or grouped interrogation signals of theinformation display component, coding boundaries of sectors of the videoimage respectively (K1-2) are generated in the computing component forone user's or for a group of users' eyes perceiving a video image (E) onone screen of a video display component.

Ref. 22—The above interrogation signals are transmitted to theinformation display facility or to the video information conversioncomponent connected with the information display component (O2-1).

Ref. 30—A sum interrogation signal (K1-2) is formed in the computingcomponent by two or more requests of a data information displaycomponent of a group of information display components.

Ref. 23 or 24—Stated interrogation signals of a group of informationdisplay component are transmitted respectively to the conversion orformation component connected with a group of information displaycomponent (O2-2 , O2-3).

Method 3M in the reviewed variant makes it possible to use intermediatesignals for the formation of interrogation signals for the informationdisplay component and/or video signal conversion components, which savesthe time of interrogation signal transmission to the information displaycomponents and video signal conversion components, which are connectedwith them.

5. To minimize the amount of computations in an individual computingcomponent with simultaneous reduction of the traffic of interrogationsignal transmission and to reduce the number of the data channels forsignal transmission from the sensors to the computing components, wepropose the method with distributed interrogation signal generation inseparate computing components. The block diagram of the variant ofimplementation of foveal interactive television of 3 is shown in FIGS. 9and 10.

Ref. 27 or 29 and Ref. 28 or 30—Interrogation signals are generatedaccording to the proposed method for the users' eyes perceiving videoinformation from one information display component in one computingfacility (K3-1/K3-2). Interrogation signals of the information displaycomponent encoding the boundaries of sectors and/or the quality level inthe stated sectors of a video image are generated in the above computingcomponent.

Ref. 31—Received interrogation signals of the information displaycomponents are transmitted to the information display components (FIG.9) or to the video signal conversion component (FIG. 10) connected withthe above stated information display component; interrogation signalsare also transmitted to the computing component connected with videosignal conversion or formation components for a group of components,which is included into the stated information display components (O3-1).

Ref. 28 or 30—A sum interrogation signal of a group of informationdisplay component (K4) is formed in the computing component byinterrogation signals from a group of computing components.

Ref. 32—A sum interrogation signal is transmitted to the video signalconversion component or to the video signal conversion or formationcomponents connected with the above computing component; theinterrogation signals are also transmitted to the computing component,connected with the video signal conversion or formation components for agroup of component, to which a display component is included (O3-2).

The proposed variant of implementation of an independent method makes itpossible to separately process signals coming from the eyecharacteristic sensors or interrogation signals received in the previousstages.

6. When an independent method 3M is implemented in case of a bulknetwork of video signal distribution, it is necessary to convert inparallel quality levels of the same sectors of a video image transmittedto the video signal conversion components. When the interrogationsignals are transmitted from users' information display components tothe conversion and formation components, the interrogation signals ofvideo image sectors are summarized in the computing components. In thisconnection, video image sectors are expanded as it is shown in FIGS. 11a, b, c, d. Video signals of the video image sectors of a high qualitylevel are converted into a video signal of a low quality level in everyvideo signal conversion facility, as shown in FIGS. 11 f, g, h whichincreases the requirements for computation capacity of the video signalconversion components. A block diagram of the method of fovealinteractive television with a one-fold preliminary conversion of thequality level and sequential conversion of sector boundaries of a videoimage is shown in FIG. 12. It additionally includes the followingoperations:

Ref. 33—A video signal of the video image of a low and at least the samehigh quality level (A3/C4) is formed or converted in a series of videosignals of the video image in the video signal formation components orin the primary formation component.

Ref. 34—A video signal of an assigned quality level with boundariescorresponding to the interrogation signal (C5) is extracted from thevideo signal of the sector of video image corresponding to the qualitylevel in the video signal conversion component, taking into account thesignals encoding boundaries of video image sectors for every highquality level of a video image.

Ref. 10—Received video signals of high quality levels are transmitted atleast to one component of video signal conversion or to one informationdisplay component (B2).

Ref. 11—Video signals of the sectors of a video image are transmitted tothe video signal conversion component (B).

Ref. 35—the internal boundaries of every sector of a full picture videoimage are converted in the video signal component, except for thehighest level, according to the external boundaries of sectors of videosignals of a high quality level relatively to a video signal of thecurrent quality level (C6).

7. Video signals of all quality levels except for the lowest level,according to the method 5M, or 6 reduce their area at the instance oftheir transmission from the source of video information to the user inthe course of the sequential conversion, whereas the sector of videoimage with the lowest quality level in the datainformation displaycomponents achieves 90-99% of the video image area. A block diagram ofthe method with the transmission of video signals of the lowest qualitylevel is illustrated in FIG. 13. The method 7M comprises the followingoperations:

Ref. 36—Received video signals of the lowest quality level are fullytransmitted to all signal conversion components directly connected withthe information display components, and directly to the informationdisplay components.

Ref. 37—Only video signals of sectors of a video image of high qualityare transmitted to the signal conversion components connected withinformation display components (B3).

Ref. 38—The internal boundaries of every sector of a video image of alow level are converted in the video signal conversion componentdirectly connected with the information display component in accordancewith the external boundaries of video signal sectors of a high qualitylevel for the given video signal (C7).

Ref. 39—A video image is formed in the information display component,and the user perceives it without foveal interrogation signalscorresponding to the function of the eye resolution of the individualuser.

8. Should the quality levels of video signals of low and high qualitylevels occur to be characterized by the fact, that an element of a videoimage (pixel) of a video signal of a low quality level restricts theentire quantity of video signal elements of a high quality level of thevideo image, we propose the method 3M, which differs by the fact thatthe element of video information (pixel) of a video signal with the lowquality level is determined in the components of video signal formationor in the video signal conversion components as an average value ofvideo information elements (pixels) of the video signal of the highquality level, which signal includes a video image sector restrictedwith the boundaries of the above pixel of the video signal with lowquality level (I1).

9. To simplify computations in the computing component, we propose themethod 3M, which differs by the fact that one of elements of the videoimage (pixel) of high level covered by the above element of video image(pixel) of the video signal of low level (I2) is used as an element ofvideo information (pixel) of the video signal of low quality level.

10. The method 10M allows further increasing the amount of videoinformation transmitted through data channels of the data transmissioncomponent, because the video signals with a low quality level of a videoimage partly back up video information contained in the video signals ofa higher quality level. To overcome this disadvantage, we propose theadditional method 10M, which differ by the fact, that the video signalof the lowest quality level is identified as a basic signal. A videosignal of a first expansion level is formed or converted by summation ofthe basic video signal and the video signal of the expanded qualitylevel so that it allows generating a video signal of a first highquality level. A video signal of a second high expanded quality level isformed or converted by summation of the video signal of the basic leveland video signals of the first and second expanded quality levels.

Therefore, the methods and the components, of video signal formation andconversion, in which the above conversion is done without interrogationsignals, have been described above. According to the algorithm built inin the formation or conversion or components, the initial video signalis divided into several video signals, which mutually complement eachother. It is possible to use a of video signal formation component orcomponent similar to that one presented in “Technique used incinematography and television”, 1999, 1 p. 21, “Operating procedures ofstudio cameras and TV—systems in the age of digital television”, Part 2.Camera technique for HDT. L. J. Torp, Sony Corp., whereas a video signalconversion component or component, similar to that one described in“Digital processing of TV and computer images” edited by Y. B. Zubarevand V. P. Dvorkovich, Moscow, 1997, in scheme 8.6 coder of video signalpresents the process of initial video signal conversion into videosignals with two scales of spatial resolution: a video signal of basiclevel and a video signal of expanded level. For the inverse conversionof video signals a provision is made for the conversion in a conversioncomponent or component connected with a particular information displayor component: such as a—decoder, which is used for summation of videoinformation of the basic video signal and every expanded video signalinto relevant video signals of the assigned series of quality levels foreach sector of the video image. A block diagram of the method 10M isshown in FIG. 15. It differs with respect to the most similar methods 3Mand 8M by the following operations:

Ref. 40—A video signal is generated in the video signal formationcomponent, or converted in the video signal conversion component into aseries of video signals of the video image of the basic or at least oneexpanded quality level (A6/C10-1).

Ref. 41—Video information of the basic quality level and expandedquality level (S) is summed in the video signal conversion component toobtain a series of video signals of different quality levels.

12M. It is convenient to process distributed signals by cutting thesectors with boundaries assigned by the interrogation signal in thevideo signal conversion component from the video signals of expandedlevel. When signals come to the video signal conversion componentconnected with a particular information display component, the values ofvideo signal pixels are added to the entire video frame or only to thesector of high quality level, for example, as per method K-1, accordingto which the pixel color grade signal of high level is added, the meanvalue of color grade of super pixel is multiplied by K, whereas thecolor grade of the last K-pixel will be equal to the difference betweenthe sum and the product. A similar approach is possible, when videosignals of the basic and expanded levels differ by a signal/noise ratio,a frequency of frame change, a color grade and other characteristics ofthe quality level of the video image. It is also possible to use thevariant when giving up calculation of sums, products and differences,and the pixel color grade of low level taken as the color grade of oneof K-pixels of the initial level to be selected in a specified sequencesimilar for each group of K-pixels, either in a different way or atrandom. When a video signal of high level is summed for a entire videoimage or only in the sector of high level K-1, a pixel comes from thevideo signal of the expanded level, whereas one pixel comes from thebasic level signal.

13. To simplify calculations, we propose to use the signal of one ofpixels of video image of the initial quality level covered by the pixelof low quality level for the formation of a video signal pixel of lowlevel.

As an example of the process of video signal conversion of a video imageof a series of quality levels into the basic and expanded quality levelsof the video signals without taking into account the interrogationsignals, we propose the method of 13M, which differs by the fact thatthe signal of a quality level lower than the initial signal is generatedby way of data summation of several (K) of the nearest pixels of theinitial video signal and division of the sum into a number of pixelsinto one pixel of the video signal of low level. For example, the colorgrade of several pixels is added and divided by the number of summedpixels (K). Once all pixels of the video signals of the initial levelbeing processed, a video signal of the whole frame of low level andrespectively of the low size is obtained. On the other hand, the videosignals of K-1 pixels of the initial level are transmitted to thegenerated video signal of high level. A similar procedure may berepeated by the number of quality levels of video signals minus 1. Thesummarized quantity of information for all video signals will not begreater than the volume of video signals of the high quality level withboundaries corresponding to the boundaries of the video image.

The video signal of the basic level comes through the data channels toall of the user information processing display components, including thedisplay conversion components.

The above method may be used jointly with the effective video standardssuch as PAL, SECAM, NTSC in the event when standard signals distributedin the networks or on air are used as the basic video signal, whereasthe expanded signals are distributed through separate data channels.

14. For example, when the interrogation signal is identified at thestage of its formation or conversion, whereas the determined sectorscover the entire frame of the video image, in such a case duringfulfillment of the transmission operation it is possible to adjust andcontain not all sectors, i.e. only the sectors of the highest quality ofvideo image, during operation of the interrogation signal transmissionit is possible to adjust and contain not all sectors, i.e. only thesectors of the highest quality of video image so that they could betransmitted in due time to the information display component, which areviewed in real time for the time being. The other sectors, having aquality level lower than that one of the previous level or with otherboundaries, or which are not transmitted at all depending on the loadand the state of the data transmission component, as well as thecritical time for transmitting of the video image stream with theeventual further recovery of the interrogation signal to the previouslevel.

15. The method 21M, which differs by the fact that the video signals ofsectors of the video image are recorded in advance with the initialquality level (A9-1), whereas every sector of the video image with aquality level assigned by the interrogation signal is displayed in thevideo signal formation component. To do so, the video signals of videoimage sectors with an initial quality level are recorded on the mediumin parallel with the data record in parallel addresses; several sectorsof data medium are read off in parallel in the video signal formationcomponent at the time of video signal display with the initial qualitylevel, when displaying the video signals of the low level, a part of thevideo signals (A9-2) is real off in parallel.

EXAMPLES OF APPLICABILITY

With a view to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method ofinteractive television using eye foveal faculties of individual andgrouped users and for the demonstration of the achievement of theassigned technical result we shall compare the existing TV method andthe proposed method of interactive television using eye foveal facultiesof individual and grouped users for the resolution of the task of HD TVbroadcasting.

When using the method proposed by the authors let us consider a variant,according to which video signals are formed by means of similarfacilities of video signal formation, i.e. HD TV cameras. Video signalof all video images is converted into a series of video signals ofdifferent quality level according to the dependent method 3M. Let usassign three quality levels: the first one—the lowest quality level ofvideo image corresponding to SECAM standard (625*625 pixels in a frame),first high quality level corresponding to spatial resolution (1250*1250pixels in a frame), which by 2 times is more than the spatial resolutionof SECAM standard, the second high quality level corresponds to theresolution of the compare high definition television (HD TV) (2500*2500pixels in a frame), which by 4 times more, than the spatial resolutionof SECAM standard.

Suppose that the existing and the proposed methods are applied in thefollowing TV system, in which:

-   -   users simultaneously watch video image of the same video item,        formed by video display component (Refs. 13 and 14);    -   at the same time on the average two users watch one information        display component (first level, 2 users);    -   every 10 video display components are located in one entrance of        a building and are connected to one entrance facility of a video        signal transmission component (second level, 20 users);    -   every 10 entrance of a building are connected with a common        building facility of video signal transmission components (third        level, 200 users);    -   every 10 buildings are connected by data channels with street        facilities of video signal transmission component (4to level,        2,000 users);    -   every 10 streets are connected by data channels with video        signal transmission component of residential quarters (5to        level, 20,000 users);    -   every 10 residential quarters are connected by data channels        with regional facility of video signal transmission components        (6to level, 200,000 users);    -   every 10 regions are connected by data channels with the urban        facility of video signal transmission components (7to level,        2,000,000 users).

Assume, that in case of both TV methods the users are located at adistance of 3 m from the screens located in the perpendicular plane tothe eye optical axis and have the size of diagonal 57 cm with side ratio3 to 4. Taking into account the function of a sound eye resolution, theprojection diameter of the foveal area to the video image with thespatial resolution on the external boundary corresponding to theresolution of the TV video signal of the lowest quality level will notbe higher than 128*128 pixels, whereas that one of the second highquality level will not be higher than 64*64 pixels. Spatial resolutionof the video image formed in the information display component of thetransmitted video signal for both considered methods in an sector with a1 cm diameter will be lower than the spatial resolution of the user'seye. Thus, both methods form video images of similar pectoral qualitylevel.

Let's identify the volumes of information of video signals transmittedthrough data channels from facilities of video signal formation toinformation display facilities according to the existing method of thecabled TV broadcasting.

Number of lines, pcs 2,500 Number of pixels in a line (number ofcolumns), pcs 2,500 Volume of video information of one pixel, byte 2Volume of video information of one frame, Mbytes 12.5 Image frequency,frame/s 24 Volume of video information transmitted through 300 everydata channel of HD TV, Mbytes/s Length of a TV channel from theinformation 10 display facility to the access TV channel, m

Data channels of the lowest level are connected to the data channels ofan entrance of the building, a building, a street, a residentialquarter, a region or a town in an arbitrary point.

length of a TV channel of an entrance of the building 50 building 200street 1,000 residential quarter 3,000 region 5,000 town 10,000 Theaggregate traffic of data transmission from the 3,000,000 entrance TVchannels to the information display facilities, Mbytes*km/s Theaggregate traffic of data transmission in all 1,500,000 in-entrance TVchannels, Mbytes*km/s in-building, 600,000 in-street 600,000 in-quarter150,000 within a region 45,000 in-town 30,000 The aggregate traffic ofdata transmission through 5,508,000 all data channels of HD TV,Mbytes*km/s

Let's determine the volume of information transmitted through the datachannels in the TV broadcasting system according to the methods proposedby the authors.

Unlike the existing method of TV broadcasting, the method proposed by usadditionally provides the dynamic feedback of quality level control invideo image sectors for individual and grouped users. Let's determinethe volume of information of interrogation signals transmitted throughdata channels.

When the stated method 3M is used, the sensors connected with theinformation display component determine the eye dynamic characteristicswith respect to the video image formed by this information displaycomponent (Ref. 16)(N). For example, signals and their coding signalsare dynamically formed as described in Russian Federation patent No.RU2134053 using coordinates and orientation of the eye optical axes withrespect to the video image formed by the information display componentusing the method and components described in a USSR inventor'scertificate as of 1959 and further, in US patents as of 1983 and in morerecent patents. The signals coding eye coordinates with respect to thevideo image are dynamically transmitted to the computing component (Ref.18)(O).

The signals coding the boundaries of video image sectors of the firsthigh quality level and the second high quality level (Ref. 27) (K1-1)are generated in the computing component according to method 3M for eacheye taking into account the dependence function of the eye resolution(K). For instance, the boundaries may be assigned by the coordinates ofcenters (FIG. 2, Refs 45, 46, 47, 48) of a broken line (Ref. 49)enveloping a sector of the first increase quality level of the videoimage (Ref. 50). Coordinates of the points are assigned in thecoordinate system connected with the boundaries of the video imagesector of the lowest quality level by natural numbers within the rangeof 1-625. In this case, the accuracy of the boundary identification isequal to the resolution of the lowest quality level and, consequently,an eye cannot distinguish this boundary. The first point (Ref. 45) isassigned by two coordinates X1and Y1, in aggregate with 22 data bits.The coordinates of the second point (Ref. 46) may be assigned by thevalue of coordinate Y change. When shifting from the point Ref. 45 tothe point Ref. 46, the second coordinate is not changed. The coordinateof the third point is assigned by the value of change of coordinate ?Xwhen shifting from point Ref. 46 to point Ref. 47. In this casecoordinates Y are not changed. On the basis of the geometric features ofa rectangle, the forth point of the boundary between the sector of thelow quality level and the sector of the first high quality level isplotted.

Assigning the highest size of the sector of the first high quality levelto horizontal delta X ?? and to vertical ?deltaY up to 128=2⁷ pixels ofthe video image of low quality level, in order to assign coordinates ofthe second point and every further point, 7+1 data bits will berequired. Coordinates of the broken line (Ref. 49) comprising the sectorof video image of the first high quality level (Ref. 50) will beassigned fully, when the coordinate of the further point will coincidewith the coordinate of the initial point (Ref. 46). Let's assign thesimplest form of a broken line comprising a sector of video image of thefirst high level, i.e. a rectangle; in this connection the aggregateinterrogation signal of the first high quality level of one informationdisplay component to one eye will be 22+2*8=38 bits/frame/eye.

Having assigned coordinates of the first point (Ref. 51) of a brokenline (Ref. 52) comprising a sector of the second high level with respectto the first point of the first broken line (8+8=14 bits/frame), andassigned a maximum size of the sector of the second high quality levelto the horizontal and to the vertical, which do not exceed 64 pixels ofvideo image of the lower level, the interrogation signal encoding theboundaries of the video image sector of the second high level for oneeye will be equal to 14+2*6=28 bits/frame/eye.

The interrogation signals encoding the boundaries of video image sectorsof the first and the second high quality level for the user's eye willnot exceed 24*(38+16)=1296 bits/s for a information display componentused for one user with a frame frequency of 24 frames/s.

Then, an aggregate interrogation signal (Ref. 28) (K1-2) encoding theboundaries of video image sectors of the first quality level for thecase, when projections of the eye optical axes of two users aredistributed over the video image surface with the same probability, isgenerated in the computing component according to method 3M covering theboundaries of sectors of the first high level of video image of everyeye perceiving a video image.

For the 24 frames/s frequency, the interrogation signals encoding theboundaries of video image sectors of the first and second high qualitylevels of one information display component for four eyes will be equalto 4*1296/8=648 bytes/s.

According to method 10M the interrogation signals generated for one eyeor for several eyes of users (FIG. 9, Ref. 27/29 or 28/30) aretransmitted to the information display components and to the computingcomponents of a higher level (Ref. 31).

Let's calculate the maximum size of the interrogation signal generatedfor an urban component of the video signal formation components,according to method 1M. Let's determine the number of video imagesectors equal to the number of pixels of the video image of the lowestquality level. In this case:

Number of quality level, pcs 3 Number of bits for assigning qualitylevel of 2 one pixel, bit Frame frequency, Hz 24 Volume of quality levelinterrogation signal of 2,343 video frame sector, Kbytes/s

The calculated interrogation signal for all users of a town will havethe maximum value. We calculate interrogation signal traffic transmittedthrough the data channels for intermediate levels taken as reference anexponential growth of the interrogation signal traffic of the number ofusers' eyes.

The peculiarity of the proposed method consists in the fact that thedata channels of interrogation signal transmission of each level areconnected into a “star”.

Length of TV channel from the information display 60 facilities to theentrance computing facility, m building 200 street 1,000 residentialquarter 5,000 region 10,000 town 15,000 The aggregate traffic ofinterrogation signal 15.23 transmission through all data transferchannels from every information display facility to in-entrancecomputing facilities, Mbytes*km/s in-building 19.89 in-street 38.97in-residential quarter 76.34 within a region 59.82 in-town 35.15 Theaggregate traffic of interrogation signal 245.4 transmission accordingto the proposed method amount to, Mbytes*km/s

Let's determine the volume of video information transmitted through thedata channels from the component of video signal formation to theinformation display components in accordance with the stated method.According to method 10M, the video signals: are formed and/or convertedinto video signals: of the basic level, the first extended level, andthe second extended level.

The volume of the video signal of the basic quality level according tothe proposed method 11M corresponds to the method of SECAM video signaltransmission and corresponds to 1/16 of the volume of HD TV signal.

The aggregate traffic of video information transmission of the videosignal of basic quality level SECAM for

all in-entrance TV channels, Mbytes*km/s 187,500 in-building 112,500in-street 18,750 in-residential quarter 5,625 with a region 938 in-town188 The aggregate traffic of video information transmission 344,250 forall data channels of HD TV, Mbytes*km/s

According to the stated method 11M the structure of video signaldistribution of expanded quality levels corresponds to theabove-considered structure of interrogation signal, and the structure ofvideo signal distribution of basic quality level corresponds to thestructure of HD TV distribution structure.

Let's determine the traffic of video information of the first and secondexpanded quality levels to be transmitted to one information displaycomponent of the stated method 12M taking a video image sector shape asrectangular and the number of eyes simultaneously perceiving the videoimage formed by one screen of the information display component as equalto 4 (two users watch video item simultaneously).

Volume of video information of one frame of video 32,768 signal windowof the first high quality level, bytes Volume of video information ofone frame of video 8,192 signal window of the second high quality level,bytes Volume of video information of one frame of video 24,576 signalwindow of the first expanded quality level, bytes Volume of videoinformation of one frame of video 7,680 signal window of the secondexpanded quality level, bytes Volume of video information of the firstthe second 65 expanded quality level of video image perceived by twoeyes of a user, Kbytes

Let's determine the maximum traffic of video signals of the first andsecond high quality levels formed or converted in an urban TV center(Ref. 36) (A6-1/B10-1) on the basis of the fact that the points ofvision of all users cover the whole video image in a regular way.

The volume of video signals of the first and second quality level formedor converted in accordance with method 11M will amount to 15/16 300=281Mbytes/s.

Video signals of such traffic are transmitted to the regional componentsof video signal conversion (Ref. 10) (C1). The boundaries of video imagesectors of the expanded quality levels are converted in the video signalconversion component in accordance with the aggregate interrogationsignal used for 100,000 users; in this connection, the aggregate signaltraffic is reduced by the value, which mainly depends on the video itemand the diversity of the users' reaction. Suppose, that the reduction isequal to 1%.

For the case of the reduction of the video information volume in everysequential level, we may assume, that it is approximated by anexponential function.

The aggregate traffic of video information transmission of the videosignal of the extended quality levels for all in-entrance

TV channels will be, Mbytes*km/s 1,206,999 in-building 1,014,317in-street 753,960 in-residential quarter 490,007 in-region 119,883in-town 20,763 The aggregate traffic of video signals of basic and3,261,902 expanded quality levels and interrogation signals for theproposed method will be, Mbytes *km/s The aggregate traffic of videoinformation transmission 5,508,000 through all data channels of HD TVaccording to the above calculations will be, Mbytes*km/s

The above value is essentially lower than the traffic of video signaltransmission of high definition according to the existing methods.

The above disclosure demonstrates the fulfillment of the statedtechnical result by the independent methods as well as some dependentmethods with regard to the reduction of the transmission traffic,reduction of the highest stream of video information, compatibility ofnew TV standards with the existing TV standards and data channels,possibility of work at a long distance from the source of videoinformation. Owing to the fact, that the restricted volume ofinformation is transmitted through the data channels of lower levels,the produced frame is not important for the other users.

According to this example all figures are given for the case when avideo signal packing as per methods JPEG, MPEG-1, 2, 3, 4 or any othermethods are not used.

Use of the video signal packing jointly with the proposed method willresult in the reduction of absolute values of the signal streams butwill preserve their ratio and advantages of the proposed method.

Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the presentinvention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is thereforeto be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically describedherein.

Further, the present application incorporates by reference the followingpapers, reports and technical disclosures:

-   1. “An eye and its function”, S. V. Kravkov, AS of the USSR, 1950.-   2. “Principles of display apparatus configuration in automated    systems” I. I. Litvak, B. F. Lomov, I. E. Soloveychik.-   3. “Hardware of graphic data input-output” edited by Tchetverikov,    series from seven volumes “Organization of a man interaction with    hardware of ACS”, volume 3.-   4. “Work with display Units. Abstract book from the Third    International Scientific Conference on Work with Display Units/1992”-   5. “Cinematographic and TV engineering”, 1999, 1-   6. Operating procedures of studio cameras and TV-systems in the age    of the digital television. Part 2. Camera technique for HD TV. L. J.    Torp, Sony corp.-   7. “Digital processing of TV and computer images” edited by Y. B.    Zubarev and V. P. Dvorkovich, Moscow, 1997.-   8. “Digital TV equipment—Philips Digital Video Systems”, V. V.    Bykov, journal “Tekhnika kino i televideniya”, No. 1 1999.-   9. “Operating procedures of studio cameras and TV-systems in the age    of digital television. Part II. Operating procedures of cameras for    HD TV. L. J. Torp, Businnes and Professional Group, Sony Elektronics    Inc., journal “Tekhnika kino i televideniya”, No. 1 1999”.-   10. “Image of super high definition on a huge screen”, Eidzo dzeho    media gakkay si, 1998, v. 52, No. 7, published in journal Tekhnika    kino i televideniya”, No. 1 1999”.

1. A method of interactive television wherein video signals aregenerated based on real time user perception of video images comprisingthe steps of: forming a video signal of an entire frame of an initialvideo image in a video signal formation component, said initial videoimage has a predetermined quality level and predetermined dimension;said initial video image is divided into a plurality of sector videoimages with predetermined boundaries, said sector video images havingthe same predetermined quality level; converting the video signal ofsaid initial video image in a video signal transmitter conversioncomponent into a series of sector video signals corresponding to saidsector video images; transmitting said sector video signals from saidtransmitter conversion component via data channels, via a plurality ofgroup user intermediate conversion components, to a plurality of userdisplay components, said intermediate conversion components aresubstantially connected to said user display components; converting saidquality levels of said sector video signals, such that a correspondingquality level of at least one said sector video image is successivelyreduced, said conversion is provided in said group user intermediateconversion components; forming an entire frame video image on the userdisplay component, said user display component is connected to onegroup-user intermediate conversion component chosen from said pluralityof group-user intermediate conversion components, said forming is basedon said sector video signals, said entire frame video image beingperceived by at least one user; said sector video images having the samepredetermined boundaries and dynamically changeable quality levels;determining eye characteristics of a user by employing at least onesensor in operative communication with one eye of the user, said eyecharacteristics are determined relatively to the entire frame videoimage formed by the user display component and perceived at an eye ofsaid user, and by employing data from said sensor to dynamicallyestablish coding characteristics of each user; generating displayinterrogation signals within a plurality of computing components of afirst type, each of said first type computing components is connected toa predetermined display component chosen from said user displaycomponents, taking into account an eye resolution of a correspondinguser, and said coding characteristics; said display interrogationsignals containing information on the quality levels of at least onesector of the video image; transmitting said display interrogationsignals to one of a plurality of computing components of a second type,connected to said group-user intermediate conversion component;transmitting said display interrogation signals immediately to said userdisplay component; generating a plurality of group interrogation signalswithin a plurality of computing components of the second type, saidgroup interrogation signals are generated based on the displayinterrogation signals of at least one computing component connected to acorresponding computing component of the second type; calculating saidquality levels of the sector video image within said second typecomputing components, in this connection, the quality level of saidsector video signals is set as the highest quality level for therespective sectors of the video images corresponding to said displayinterrogation signals; converting the quality levels of said sectorvideo signals, such that a corresponding quality level of at least onesaid sector video image is reduced, said conversion is provided in saidgroup-user intermediate conversion component; wherein, said groupinterrogation signals are taken into account with a respectiveconcurrent adjustment in converting said video signals; and said formingof the entire frame video image on said user display component, based onsaid sector video signals, is controlled by said display interrogationsignal of said corresponding user.
 2. A method of interactive televisionwherein video signals are generated based on real time user perceptionof video images comprising the steps of: forming a predetermined numberof video signals of an entire frame of an initial video image withdifferent predetermined quality levels, including a lowest quality leveland a number of higher quality levels, in a video signal formationcomponent; said initial video image is characterized by predeterminedboundaries, said boundaries include external boundaries; transmittingthe video signal provided for the lowest quality level of the entirevideo image from the video signal formation component via conventionalsignal channels of a conventional video broadcasting system directly toa plurality of display components, said plurality of display componentsincluding a number of user display components; transmitting said videosignals of the higher quality levels from the video signal formationcomponent via data channels, via a plurality of intermediate conversioncomponents, to said display components; said intermediate conversioncomponents are substantially connected to said user display components;changing said boundaries of said video signals of the higher qualitylevels in the intermediate conversion component; said changing resultsin formation of a number of areas of each said video signal, wherein theboundaries of at least one of said areas are narrowed; forming theentire frame video image on a user display component, chosen from saidplurality of user display components, said user display component isconnected to a group-user intermediate conversion component chosen fromsaid plurality of intermediate conversion components; wherein saidforming is based on the video signal of the entire frame video image ofsaid lowest quality level, and on the video signals of said higherquality levels; perceiving the entire frame video image by at least oneuser; determining eye characteristics of the user by employing at leastone sensor in operative communication with one eye of the user, said eyecharacteristics are determined relatively to the entire frame videoimage formed by the user display component and perceived at an eye ofsaid user, and by employing data from said sensor to dynamicallyestablish coding characteristics; generating a plurality of displayinterrogation signals for one of said display components, saidgenerating is provided in one of the first type computing components,said display interrogation signals provide coding said boundaries,taking into account the eye resolution and dynamically establish codingcharacteristics of the eyes of users of the corresponding displaycomponent, said dynamic characteristics are determined in relation tothe video image, and taking into account the characteristics of saidpredetermined quality levels; said display interrogation signalscontaining information on the external boundaries of at least one areaof the video image with one of the predetermined quality levels;transmitting said display interrogation signals to a plurality ofcomputing component of a second type, connected to said group-userintermediate conversion component; transmitting said displayinterrogations signals immediately to said user display component;generating a plurality of group interrogation signals within a pluralityof computing components of the second type, said group interrogationsignals are generated based on the display interrogation signals of atleast one computing component connected to a corresponding computingcomponent of the second type; calculating said external boundaries ofthe area video image within said second type computing components, inthis connection, coding said external boundaries of said areas of anequal quality level for said users or said group of users, the externalboundaries of each said quality level include the external boundaries ofall said areas with predetermined equal quality levels for therespective levels of the video images corresponding to said displayinterrogation signals; wherein said changing of said boundaries of saidvideo signals of the higher quality levels is controlled by said groupinterrogation signals, taken into account with a respective concurrentadjustment in converting said video signals; and said forming of theentire frame video image on the user display component, based on saidarea video signals, is controlled by said display interrogationssignals.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said forming video signals isprovided for said different quality levels, and further comprises:changing the boundaries of each said area of the video image in theintermediate conversion component except for the area of the highestquality level, said boundaries including internal and externalboundaries, the internal boundaries of all the areas, except the highestquality level area, correspond to the external boundaries of the videoimage with the next higher quality level.
 4. The method of claim 2wherein said forming the video signal of the entire video image of apredetermined low quality level in the video signal formation componentfurther comprises: calculating a value of a pixel of the video image ofsaid low quality level as the mean value of values of pixels of apredetermined high quality level of the video image, wherein said pixelhas predetermined boundaries, said pixels of a predetermined highquality level of the video image are restricted with the boundaries ofsaid pixel of the predetermined low quality level.
 5. The method ofclaim 2, wherein said forming the video signal of the entire video imageof a predetermined low quality level in the video signal formationcomponent further comprises: calculating a value of a pixel of the videoimage of said low quality level as a value of a pixel of a predeterminedhigh quality level of the video image, wherein said pixel of the videoimage of said low quality level has predetermined boundaries, said pixelof the predetermined high quality level of the video image is locatedinside of said pixel of the predetermined low quality level.
 6. Themethod of claim 2, wherein said user display component is represented bya conventional CRT including: a screen, a gun-cathode, an electronicbeam deflector, a size screen dot unit for dynamic control of the dot onthe screen; said method further comprises: successive transferring videosignals of said areas with different quality levels to the gun-cathode;synchronous transferring said display interrogation signals for saidareas each, wherein said display interrogation signals carry encodinginformation on the boundaries of said each area, said transferring thedisplay interrogation signals is provided to said electronic beamdeflector, said synchronous transferring of said display interrogationsignals is provided synchronously with the entire frame video image; andsynchronous transferring said display interrogation signals for saidareas each, wherein said display interrogation signals carry encodinginformation on the quality levels of said areas, and said transferringthe display interrogation signals is provided to said size screen dotunit, said synchronous transferring of said display interrogationsignals is provided synchronously with the entire frame video image. 7.A method of interactive television wherein a video signal is generatedbased on real time user perception of video images comprising the stepsof: forming a video signals of an entire frame of a video image, and/orforming video signals of sectors of said video image with substantiallyequal quality levels and predetermined boundaries, or an entire frame ofa video image with different quality levels, in a video signal formationcomponent; converting the video signals at least one time in at leastone video signal conversion component into a series of video signals ofthe video image sectors and/or converting the level of quality of thevideo image sectors, and/or changing said predetermined boundaries ofsaid sectors, transmitting said video signals via data channels, atleast, to one said conversion component and to at least one displaycomponent, forming a video image on the display component, said videoimage being perceived, at least, by one user, determining eyecharacteristics by employing at least one sensor in operativecommunication with one eye of the user, said characteristics are definedrelatively to the video image formed by the user display component andperceived at an eye of said user, and by employing data from said sensorto dynamically establish signal coding characteristics, transmittingsaid signals having said coding characteristics to at least onecomputing component; generating interrogation signals with saidcomputing component, taking into account the eye resolution,communicated in the coding characteristics, said interrogation signalsinclude a first category containing information on the boundaries of atleast one sector of the video image and/or a second category containinginformation on the quality levels of at least one sector of the videoimage; transmitting said interrogation signals to at least components ofthe following types: said formation component, said conversioncomponent, and said display component; wherein: the interrogationsignals are taken into account with a respective concurrent adjustmentin forming of said video signals, converting said video signals, andforming said image; said forming video signals is provided for saiddifferent quality levels, and further comprises: transmitting said videosignals via data channels, at least, to one said conversion component,subjected to said first category interrogation signals, changing theboundaries of each sector of the video image in the conversion componentexcept for the sector of the highest quality level, said boundariesincluding internal and external boundaries, the internal boundaries ofall the sectors, except the highest quality level sector, correspond tothe external boundaries of the video signal with the next higher qualitylevel; the first quality level corresponds to a basic level; saidtransmitting the video signal is provided for the basic level of theentire video image via data channels of a conventional videobroadcasting system to every said display component directly, or via theconversion component, associated with the display component; andsubjected to said interrogation signals containing at least informationon the boundaries of a sector with the lowest quality level, changingthe internal boundaries of each sector of the video image in theconversion component.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said forming thevideo signal of the entire video image or the video signals of saidsectors of the video image of a predetermined low quality level in theformation component further comprises: identifying a value of a pixel ofthe video image of said low quality level as the mean value of pixelsvalues of a predetermined high quality level of the video image, whereinsaid pixels values forming a part of the video image sector, restrictedwith the boundaries of said pixel of the predetermined low qualitylevel.
 9. A method of interactive television wherein video signals aregenerated based on real time user perception of video images comprisingthe steps of: forming a predetermined number of video signals of anentire frame of an initial video image with different predeterminedquality levels in a video signal formation component; said initial videoimage is characterized by predetermined boundaries; said differentpredetermined quality levels include a number of quality levels startingfrom a lowest first quality level, the number of quality levels includesa second quality level corresponding to a first extended quality level,a third quality level corresponding to a second extended quality level,and so on; said forming a video signal of the first extended qualitylevel in the video signal formation component further comprises:subtraction of the first quality level video signal from the secondquality level video signal whereas said forming the video signal of thesecond and higher numbers extended quality levels are obtained bysubtraction from the respective quality level video signal of a videosignal with the next quality level; transmitting the video signalprovided for the lowest quality level via conventional signal channelsof a conventional video broadcasting system directly to a plurality ofdisplay-conversional components, each said display-conversionalcomponent is connected to a corresponding said user display component;transmitting said video signals of the extended quality levels from thevideo signal formation component via data channels, via a plurality ofintermediate conversion components, to said display-conversionalcomponents, said intermediate conversion components are substantiallyconnected to said display-conversional components; changing saidboundaries of said video signals of the extended quality levels in theintermediate conversion component; said changing results in formation ofa number of areas of each said video signal, wherein the boundaries ofat least one of said areas are narrowed; summarizing the video signalsof the lowest quality level and of all of the extended quality levels,thereby obtaining a summary video signal of the entire video image inthe display-conversion component connected to the corresponding userdisplay component; transmitting said summary video signal to a userdisplay component, chosen from said plurality of user displaycomponents; forming the entire frame video image on the user displaycomponent, said user display component is connected to one of saiddisplay conversion components chosen from said plurality of intermediateconversion components; perceiving the entire frame video image by atleast one user; determining eye characteristics of the user by employingat least one sensor in operative communication with one eye of the user,said eye characteristics are determined relatively to the entire framevideo image formed by the user display component and perceived at an eyeof said user, and by employing data from said sensor to dynamicallyestablish coding characteristics, generating a plurality of displayinterrogation signals for one of said display components, saidgenerating is provided in one of the first type computing components,said display interrogation signals provide coding said boundaries,taking into account an eye resolution and dynamic characteristics of theeyes of users of the corresponding user display component, said dynamiccharacteristics are determined in relation to the video image, andtaking into account the characteristics of said predetermined qualitylevels; said display interrogation signals containing information on theexternal boundaries of at least one area of the video image with one ofthe predetermined quality levels; transmitting said displayinterrogation signals to one component of a plurality of computingcomponent of a second type, connected to said group-user intermediateconversion component; transmitting said display interrogations signalsimmediately to said user display-conversion component; generating aplurality of group interrogation signals within the second typecomputing components; said group interrogation signals are generatedbased on the display interrogation signals of at least one computingcomponent connected to a corresponding computing component of the secondtype; calculating said external boundaries of the area video imagewithin said second type computing components, in this connection, codingsaid external boundaries of said areas of an equal quality level forsaid users or said group of users, the external boundaries of each saidquality level include the external boundaries of all said areas with thecorresponding quality level; wherein said changing of said boundaries iscontrolled by said group interrogation signals taken into account with arespective concurrent adjustment in converting said video signals; saidforming of the entire frame video image on the user display component,based on said area video signals, is controlled by said displayinterrogations signals; and subjected to said group interrogationsignals containing at least information on the boundaries of said areasof the video image of any of said extended quality levels, at least onetime changing the boundaries of the areas in at least one intermediateconversion component; in this connection, the video signals of thesecond and higher numbers quality levels are converted in adisplay-conversional component connected with the user display componentfor every video signal.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said usersconsist of two types of users: registered users and non-registeredusers; said transmitting the video signal of the lowest quality level isprovided to the corresponding user display components of the registeredand non-registered users.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein saidforming the video signal of the entire video image or of said areas ofthe video image of a predetermined low quality level in the formationcomponent further comprises: identifying a value of a pixel of the videoimage of said low quality level as the mean value of pixels values of apredetermined high quality level of the video image, wherein said pixelsvalues forming a part of the video image area, restricted with theboundaries of said pixel of the predetermined low quality level.
 12. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising the steps of: determining a valueof one of the pixels of the video signal of the extended quality levelof the video image in the video signal formation component or in thevideo signal conversion component by subtraction of said value of apredetermined high quality level pixel of the video image from a valueof the video signal pixel of the basic quality level; and forming avideo signal pixel with a basic quality level in the video signalconversion component or in the information display component and a videosignal pixel of the high quality level of the video image, by way ofsumming the video signal pixel of the extended quality level and thevideo signal pixel of the basic quality level.
 13. The method of claim 9wherein said method further comprises: a preliminary step of recordingvideo signals of a predetermined lowest quality level, transmitting saidvideo signals of a predetermined extended quality level to the userdisplay components, and reading up said recorded video signals of thelowest quality level during the step of transmitting said video signals,thereby reducing the information volume to be transmitted.
 14. A methodof interactive television wherein a video signal is generated based onreal time user perception of video images comprising the steps of:forming a video signal of an entire frame of a video image, and/orforming video signals of sectors of said video image with substantiallyequal quality levels and predetermined boundaries, or an entire frame ofa video image with different quality levels, in a video signal formationcomponent; converting the video signals at least one time in at leastone video signal conversion component into a series of video signals ofthe video image sectors and/or converting the level of quality of thevideo image sectors, and/or changing said predetermined boundaries ofsaid sectors, transmitting said video signals via data channels, atleast, to one said conversion component and to at least one displaycomponent, forming a video image the display component, said video imagebeing perceived, at least, by one user, determining eye characteristicsby employing at least one sensor in operative communication with one eyeof the user, said characteristics are defined relatively to the videoimage formed by the user display component and perceived at an eye ofsaid user, and by employing data from said sensor to dynamicallyestablish signal coding characteristics, transmitting said signalshaving said coding characteristics to at least one computing component;generating interrogation signals with said computing component, takinginto account the eye resolution, communicated in the codingcharacteristics, said interrogation signals include a first categorycontaining information on the boundaries of at least one sector of thevideo image and/or a second category containing information on thequality levels of at least one sector of the video image; transmittingsaid interrogation signals to at least components of the followingtypes: said formation component, said conversion component, and saiddisplay component; wherein: the interrogation signals are taken intoaccount with a respective concurrent adjustment in forming of said videosignals, converting said video signals, and forming said image; saidforming video signals is provided for said different quality levels, andfurther comprises: transmitting said video signals via data channels, atleast, to one said conversion component, subjected to said firstcategory interrogation signals, changing the boundaries of each sectorof the video image in the conversion component except for the sector ofthe highest quality level, said boundaries including internal andexternal boundaries, the internal boundaries of all the sectors, exceptthe highest quality level sector, correspond to the external boundariesof the video signal with the next higher quality level; said convertinga video signal of the entire video image is provided into a series ofvideo signals of the entire video image with different quality levels;said different quality levels include a number of quality levelsstarting from a lowest quality level; said method further comprises: apreliminary step of recording video signals of an entire frame of avideo image of the lowest quality level, transmitting said recordedvideo signals except for the highest quality level video signals, andsaid recorded video signals of the lowest quality level are read upduring the step of transmitting said video signals, thereby reducing theinformation volume to be transmitted.